When you're 50+ finding a job is tough.
And that was BEFORE COVID-19.
Now? It’s nigh on impossible!
I’m 55 years young.
And as you would expect, I’ve got a shedload of experience. I've enjoyed (and at times hated) a long, long career in IT … technical support, project management, technical writing, data analysis. I even trained and worked as a Triple Zero call taker just for a change in 2011…
I’ve also had my own successful business with a very friendly ex-husband for 8 years and have been a consultant and contractor since 1995. So I know a thing or two about life and work. And I’m particularly useful in a crisis thanks to a 5 year stint with an Australian ambulance service up until 2016. ?
But those decades of purposeful contribution meant Jack when I decided to try and get a job in 2018. The problem in my opinion (and confirmed by the frustrated and collective experience of my over 50 peers) is that there’s a pervasive and pernicious blight on our future usefulness called Ageism.
Even the World Health Organisation has something to say on the matter:
Ageism is the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age; ageism can take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices, or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical beliefs.
Today, there are around 600 million people aged 60 years and over worldwide. This number will double by 2025 and will reach two billion by 2050, with the vast majority of older people in the developing world.
When job seeking Ageism ramps it up a notch and has an impact on every facet of your life. It's physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial.
And get this….
I’m told that over half of Australian workplaces admitted to setting an age limit of 50 when interviewing potential employees!
WHAT THE ?!?!?!
Ageism was a big, fat, ugly pathogen sweeping the globe before COVID. It impacts our confidence, our quality of life, our job prospects, relationships, physical and mental health.
It weirdly erodes the way we make life decisions because we’re always worried about something….
Maybe we won’t have enough money to live on or things to keep our brain active. Perhaps we struggle to continue to be interested in having relationships with other humans…. The list of self-doubt inducing predicaments goes on and on.
Curiously, most companies and Australian government departments have diversity policies. Age is right up there with race, gender, sexual diversity to name a few.
And yet still, there are thousands and thousands of experienced people over 50 looking for work.
So what did I do about it?
I created my own job. Or more specifically I created my own business as a copywriter.
So what happens if you:
- Don’t know what you want to do or
- Don’t really know or feel confident in what you’re good at or
- You know what you DON’T want to do but have zero idea of what you DO want to do?
It’s hard, right?
What if you could start a business that is created around what you’re good at or what lights you?
Would you be interested?
Yes? Maybe?
At Online Business Lift-off (OBL) we know that there’s no one-size-fits-all way creating your own job and your own online business. But there are certain steps that each of us take on the road to creating that business.
In our signature program OBL, we break down the steps that take you from zero to creating your own online business.
We help you go from:
- finding and confirming your idea
- understanding the tech
- creating your website
- how to understand your potential customers
- writing words that are for them
- and much, much more…
Even if you’re a beginner with no idea, no experience, no website — we can help you start a business.
Take 3 minutes now to go through our quick eligibility quiz to see if you’re able to receive an Australian Government scholarship from the Try, Test & Learn Fund.